A tender story, humorous and heartbreaking, of Emma Block and her husband, farmers from northwestern Illinois and childhood sweethearts married for forty-three years, who vanish on their way to spend Thanksgiving at their younger daughter's Chicago condominium. What transpires is an adventure that takes this elderly farm couple on a Huck-Finn trip up and then down the Mississippi in their search for understanding and forgiveness of each other, their children, and the big river that caused the tragic death that has stained their lives for twenty-five years.
About the Author: Ronald Thomas Rollet is a writer and filmmaker. He is the author of the novels The Name of God, The Book of Changes, and The Encyclopedia Book as well as a book of poems, The Terrible Cost. His monograph on the documentary films of Louis Malle was published by Film Library Quarterly and he served as editor of the Museum of Modern Arts catalogue raisonné of their circulating film collection. Mr. Rollet has garnered numerous honors and credits in film, theater and literature, including awards from the Rockefeller Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts, New York Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Columbia University, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the Foundation of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and the Encore Special Achievement Award from the South Jersey Cultural Alliance for his work as the founder and artistic director of the Cape May New Jersey State Film Festival and the Young Filmmakers Workshop. Upon his retirement, the Festival honored Mr. Rollet with a Lifetime Achievement Award and by naming the Festival's Best Screenplay Award for him. He began his career as a playwright, with plays, including two musicals with composer William Bolcom, produced off- Broadway in New York (Tisch Theater, H-B Studio, American Place/St. Clements Theater), Philadelphia, Ann Arbor, and Los Angeles. His films have been shown nationally in theaters and on television, in addition to being in the collections of a number of major film libraries. Among his accomplishments as a filmmaker, Ron counts directing one of the first film appearances of actor Danny DeVito. He received his M.F.A. from NYU School of the Arts, and an M.A. Phil. From Columbia University where he did doctoral work in Philosophy and research in aesthetics of cinema. Ron taught film study and production at NYU School of the Arts, Pratt Institute, Columbia University, the University of Michigan, Villanova University, and St. Joseph's University.